Analysis/ Protests in Israel and Serbia: What unites Vucic and Netanyahu

Boshko Jakshic - Politics

The distance as the crow flies between Belgrade and Tel Aviv is 1,879 kilometers, but both cities are connected by the series of protests shaking the power of the leaders of Serbia and Israel.

In Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities, for 22 weeks in a row, hundreds of thousands of people have protested to prevent the ultraconservative government of Benjamin Netanyahu from reforming the justice system, which they say is a "coup." The state" with which the executive power wants to subdue the judicial system's independence, destroy democracy and pave the way for dictatorship.

The fifth of the series of "Protests against violence" was held in Belgrade, which gathered tens of thousands of people, more and more young people. They demand from President Vucic the cessation of the ten-year promotion of various forms of violence in political and public life and the liberation of public space.

The parallel portrait of the two leaders of the right-wing international, which is emerging, shows the aggressiveness of autocracy, populism, and nationalism that knows no borders. All of them are the same. They do not believe that the consensus of opinions is more efficient than the dictates of one opinion, that tolerance is a prerequisite for democracy while closing to different opinions means closing freedom and a concentration camp. Their rhetoric abhors revenge and settling accounts.

Netanyahu, during six mandates, Vucic since 2012, promotes the values ​​of pseudo-democracy while systematically destroying the principles of the rule of law and freedom of speech. Both one and the other feel good in the company of the creator of "illiberal democracy," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and try not to spoil Vladimir Putin's fun. Reject sanctions against Russia.

Aca Serbin and Bibi Netanyahu constantly rely on the Serbian and Jewish variants of McCarthyism. They insult the demonstrators, introduce provocateurs into their ranks, throw propaganda smoke bombs, and do not refrain from polarizing society.

Israel and Serbia are divided internally as rarely before in their recent history. Still, their right-wing leaders are obsessed, above all, with preserving personal power, which takes more and more severe forms from year to year. Both are talented populist manipulators as they usurp power to dismantle democratic institutions.

Bibi has formed the most right-wing government in his country's history. Aca secretly flirts with conservative cleronationalists. The first makes concessions to ultra-Orthodox Jews, and the second to the right wing of the Serbian Orthodox Church. What they have in common in their understanding of politics is the deep conviction that there are no political rivals against them, only enemies. They have started the machinery of hatred by aggressively spreading confrontation and verbal violence.

Netanyahu tries to ensure executive branch control over the courts, but he has a wall in front of him called the attorney general, whose authority he tries to limit. Vučić does not have this problem. He has controlled the legal and executive powers and provided subordinate courts. The Prosecutor General in Serbia exists only not to interfere in his work and to receive his salary.

But neither one nor the other can stop thousands of demonstrators. Bibi accuses them of "violating democracy." Aca describes the protests as "shameful." Obsessed with political power, they haughtily insult, not realizing that this is how they recruit thousands of new opponents.

Driven by totalitarianism, they aggressively destroy objective criticisms in a democratic society. They can't handle criticism. For this, relying on free demagoguery, they are gradually transforming their cult of personality into a cult of victimhood. The Israeli claims that he is the victim of a "witch hunt" by the leftists. Serbia is the target of "dishonest and foolish" forces, which threaten him and his family with death.

They share an insatiable need to control the media. Netanyahu shopped for a long time to win the support of the owner of the daily newspaper "Jediot Ahronot." The military radio station, funded by Israeli taxpayers' money and has enjoyed an unsullied reputation for years, is now being turned into a megaphone for the Prime Minister's Likud to settle scores with the attorney general who in 2020 indicted Bibi criminally.

Vucic doesn't have to worry much about this because he has become the responsible editor of at least two national televisions and several tabloids. Still, according to Bibi's recipe, his appetite is unquenchable to succeed in silencing these media: foreign mercenaries who want to overthrow him from power. Every populist's rhetoric abhors revenge and accountability.

The Israeli prime minister is under pressure from vocal public opinion and has postponed the justice reform he intends to make. He is trying to buy time and, perhaps, accept some small compromises to preserve his plan from hell. People don't believe him, so they don't give up going out on the streets. The consistency of Israeli protesters is fantastic. Persistence and massiveness too. "For two thousand years, the Jewish people waited for their state, and now we will not allow ourselves to lose it to a group of fanatics."

The President of Serbia is under pressure; three times within 12 hours, he demanded dialogue in a conciliatory tone. Dialogue about what? For "Pink" and "Hepi" televisions? Come on, please, a fundamental dialogue on democracy is necessary here, but how to talk about this topic with a leader who does not believe in democracy?

How do you talk to Vucic when he can't stop calling potential interlocutors "hyenas"? "Even from the grave, I can win against you," says the president, and his words echo through the catacombs of Serbian politics.

Vučić has colossal merit that Serbia is so polarized and cannot be a unifying president. He has lost his chances to gain the cult of personality in return. Such a cult and common unity can only go together in a dictatorship. Netanyahu also opposes these same arguments. A man whose ambitions are dictatorial cannot become a new Theodor Herzl.

The protest machinery in such cases has previously lost its power. The number of participants has decreased from week to week - to the delight of the authorities. Can this scenario repeat itself this time? Organizers should be aware of this risk.

Unfortunately, these people do not have the cohesion that the Jews have. On the other hand, the summer vacation season is starting. I have a proposal: to hold three more protests. Then the citizens go on vacation while the opposition gets to work. To focus on the essentials. To demand freedom of the media.

The others follow naturally.

Translated by: Jelal Fejza